City of Albany featured in the state's largest newspaper

Crews are working on a new industrial park on Highway 82.

ALBANY, GA (WALB) -

Crews are working on a new
industrial park on Highway 82 that officials with the Albany Dougherty Economic
Development Commission hope will attract new industries. Now, another tool to attract new jobs is
getting statewide attention.

"Right the article
has been in the works for a while now, but we're excited about it because it
gives us great exposure in a market that's very important to us," said Ted
Clem, President, Economic Development Commission.

The Atlanta Journal
Constitution recently featured an article on Albany's recruitment fund that
will provide major financial incentives to attract new industries that will
create a lot of jobs. The plan is
getting the attention of a lot of developers outside south Georgia.

"We've definitely
seen an increase in the amount of inquiries coming our way," said Clem.

The Albany City Commission
set up the job investment fund last year. It already has millions of dollars,
and it's growing.

"Ultimately we could
have close to 30 million dollars, the money is coming back from MEAG, on a
monthly basis right now we have about 13 million dollars to use out of this
fund," said Clem.

And leaders say they will
use that money wisely to attract major projects.

"There two minimal
thresholds, a company must create a hundred new jobs or invest 10 million in
capital investment into their facility," said Clem.

"Economic development is a very
competitive process, there are thousands of communities all over the country
who are competing for the same projects, anything we can do to give us a
competitive advantage is to our benefit," said Clem.

No money has been given out from the fund
yet. The EDC will probably start taking
applications next year from companies interested in taking advantage of the
incentives.
Albany and Atlanta are currently the only two Georgia cities that have
an investment program like this.